Flights to Bismarck and St. Paul

Thought I would share some pictures from two different flights two weeks ago. Both of the flights were with my japanese students from Tokai University. We went to St. Paul where we took a break to eat and stretch our legs. One of my students picked an award winning Thai restaurant in downtown Minneapolis to eat at. Unfortunately, we got to St. Paul around 5:30pm and had to take two freeways during rush hour to get there. The worst part was that I had to drive since I was the only one with a US license. It didn't help that we got a Ford Fuzion from the airport either. I just know that I never want to do that again.

In the same week we had planned to go to Rapid City, SD to see Mt. Rushmore, but because of strong west winds and a lack of time we had to replan our route and ended up going to Jamestown and Bismarck. We met Mom and Dad at the airport and went out to the Fortune Cookie to eat. Normally it's me and two Tokai students, but since we were going to go to Rapid City, they invited another japanese student along with to observe. We had a full load in the plane and in the Jeep, since one student had to ride in the back. It was still a fun flight and along the way I took some pictures of Tappen and I think one of Alkali Lake as well as parts of Bismarck, including Lincoln.

It's a Girl!!!

Welcome Cordelia Pearl High. 7lbs 15 ounces. Oct. 15th, 2007 at 12:30pm.
Stacy and new baby are doing well and are resting at St. A's. I am pretty sad that we will not be home until Christmas to see everyone but getting very excited each day. I can't wait to get pictures of our niece and I will post some as soon as I get some. Take care everyone!
Love, Kelly & Brian

50 Birthday Trip to Vegas 2007

I arrived on Sunday September 9 and was amazed at all of the people in the airport. I had to wait in the luggage claim area until Lola arrived. Kathy and Denise were meeting her flight. We caught a shuttle to our hotel and dropped off our stuff in our room and went back downstairs to stand in line for at least 45 minutes to an hour for a champagne brunch. It was worth the wait though. After that, we walked around for awhile and met Kathy's boss and her husband at Bally's for a drink. Monday we were up and running. We had breakfast by the pool. Then we decided to walk down the strip. After a short time though, Lola decided that wasn't a good idea for her. So Denise and I went walking down the strip to see the rest of the hotels along the way. Denise had planned on putting a dollar in a machine at every hotel, but that didn't work out. We got to the Excaliber and found that they were having instructions on how to play roulette. We wanted to learn but wanted to see the Lexor also. We ran over to Lexor and then couldn't find our way back. We missed the first 10 minutes of the instructions, but it was interesting. We did learn something about the game. Never got to play it though. We were supposed to meet Meredith's step uncle Eldon, Lola's step brother, for lunch at the Bellagio. So we had to rush back to meet Lola, Kathy, and Eldon and his wife Kathy. We had a lot of fun on our short jaunt of the strip. We had stopped at a couple of shops along the way and I found a T-shirt for dad, but decided to just take a picture of it. If I bought it, he probably would wear it, and we couldn't have that.

That afternoon, after lunch, we went to the spa to get massages. I had a Raindrop massage. It was based on 9 essential oils that they drop on your back along your spine. If your body is lacking in that certain oil, it will just pour out of the bottle. If your body has enough, it will have to be shaken out of the bottle. I had a couple of oils that just poured out. Before she started she put a piece of paper on the wall and marked how tall I was. After the massage, she had me stand up there again and marked my height. I was 1 inch taller. I haven't measured myself since I've been home. I just couldn't tell dad that I was an inch taller since I went to Vegas.

That night we went to the Mirage for the show Love which was based on the Beatles' career. It was a cirque de soleil show and was awesome. There was so much to see. I really enjoyed it and knew every song they played except one I didn't think I recognized, but it sounded familiar.

We walked back to our hotel and had dessert and Denise and I did a little more gambling. I lost what I had won the day before and she wasn't doing too well either. She had already won $200.

The next morning was time to get ready to leave. We packed our bags and then went down for breakfast. Kathy had extra charges on her room bill. When she found out that whenever you pick up something out of the little store in your room, it is charged to your room. We never took anything but were charged $28 for three items.

We headed for the shuttle to take us to the airport and on arriving at the airport we checked in and headed for our gates. We had three separate concourses to go to. So, we said our goodbyes and went to meet our planes. I spent the next 2 hours in Vegas airport and then flew to Denver and spent another 3-4 hours there. I got almost finished with my book.

Someday we should all go there. I would go back. But we need to save our money. It is very expensive there!

9/11 Unity Walk and Saman's Birthday

The purpose of my trip to Washington D.C. was to support my friend Saman whom I met in the U.A.E. in March 2006. She coordinated the walk and its purpose was to bring together people of every religion to unite during this time of war and chaos. It was a great turnout and after listening to the speakers I was literally in tears. One of the speakers was a personal friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At the end he made us hold hands and sing Whitney Houston's song "One Moment in Time". It was very special to me. People from across the globe, all Americans, holding hands and singing as one creating a spirit of peace and unity.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the actual event because I ran out of battery life before I got to the walk, but you can go see pictures and read about world news coverage of the event at this website: http://www.911unitywalk.org/component/option,com_newsfeeds/catid,18/Itemid,81/

The pictures I have are of Saman and her sister and friends. Also one of her entry way of her amazing house.

Our Anniversary Pictures

Here are some photos of our Anniversary trip to Chicago. We stopped in Millennium park and found a giant gazing ball. It was really beautiful because if you look at it from a distance, it will look like a giant painting; it blended so well with the skyline.

We also went to The Olbrich Botanical Gardens and saw various plant life from around the world. We saw a great Thai Garden and the biggest flowers I have ever seen. The big part of the trip was the Broadway play, Wicked. It's hard to put into words because it was so wonderful. the lighting, music, and dance was absolutely great. The two tower pictures with water coming out of them were built by a local artist and made them entirely of glass bricks. The pictures on them were people picked at radom in the streets of Chicago.